Control and Creativity

I have been thinking increasingly about creating a purely functional, non-clingy relationship with…… my I-phone!

You see its been hot and cold from the start, first I had no desire to invest, then I got given one when my old “dumb” phone stopped working and I promised to myself that I would take it easy and not get so obsessed with this gadget as I saw the world around me becoming. Then what do you know… I got clingy and with all this attention, cracked the screen! Whilst (to my recollection) taking a styled* pic of my current scene; a new beautiful book and equally beautiful (Bourke st Bakery) chocolate tart together as I sat on a park bench. How Tragic!

In my proud (and pissed off) state I decided to go back to the ol’ favourite: the Samsung flip phone, who stuck around through nights deserted in the rain. Then a few months into it my desire to creatively connect got too much and I got him repaired ….Sucker!

Its funny though, that modern contradiction – one that I and I am sure others think about….to want to live in the ‘present’ moment , to just ‘be’…… And then recording it too. I can see that spaces like Instagram can be both a way of appreciating and showing gratitude on the one hand, but on the other it can totally take you out of the honesty of the moment in the trying to get a good picture. It can totally make a 21st Century mark on a beautiful, pure moment in nature when you are flashing like a strobe light to ensure you get one good picture ( It’s probably the reason I have not many photo’s together with freinds and family regrettably, I get all precious with the time with others- but I totally appreciate other’s who later on have these photos ha!). I don’t regret the what my personal lesson’s in mindfulness have taught me and how they effected my behaviour.

For months I have been aware of my addictive tendencies towards the “smart phone”; looking at it in bed before sleeping and on waking,having a look at fb or Instagram just because I have 3 mins waiting in a line , carrying it constantly?

I knew I need to snap out this haze of touching my phone constantly! So the last week I have put in and tried out a couple of rules for myself . Firstly I started by leaving my phone in the loungeroom at night when I go to bed, keeping a sacred space sacred! I can honestly say this has been one of the most refreshing choices. Instead of looking at Instagram for Inspiration for the day, I let myself wake slowly, hop up and go for a glass of water and look out at the day. That is totally what our grandparents would do (let’s be honest they have a lot of wisdom from experience..and years).

The next one is keeping my phone away from me at Breakfast. Focusing on another stimuli while nourishing yourself, is taking away from the enjoyment and gratitude of having food to eat. This week I can say I definitely experienced better toasted museli and Strawberries than last week!

By exploring this I feel more in control, less clingy .

And have far more time to be creative !

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One thought on “Control and Creativity”

Ah yes, the seductive allure of screens; something we’re all familiar with I suspect. I wonder, if the screen wasn’t present, and we could access all non-visual data purely by sound, would the degree of fascination remain? There seems to be some entrancing quality in the idea of having a controllable visual portal which perversely makes of it a virtual equal(?) of our direct visual sense.